The top eight singles and doubles tennis players from this season are in the O2 Arena in London for the NITTO ATP Finals. The competition starts this Sunday, November 10 and ends the following Sunday, November 17.
The players are divided into two groups of four and will have to play against each other to qualify for the semi-finals. Only the top two from each group will advance. The winners of each group will play against the second-best player from the other team.
The qualified doubles teams are: Rajeev Ram/ Joe Salisbury; Raven Klaasen/ Michael Venus; Lukasz Kubot/ Marcelo Melo; Ivan Dodig/ Filip Polasek – in group Jonas Bjorkman. Juan Sebastian Cabal/ Robert Farah; Kevin Krawietz/ Andreas Mies; Pierre-Hughes Herbert/ Nicolas Mahut; Jean-Julien Rojer/ Horia Tecau – in group Max Mirniy.
Merseyside tennis player, Neal Skupski, who started playing together with Jamie Murray this summer did not make the top eight, but have had a successful second half of the season. In their last tournament, they reached the quarterfinals and defeated the second seeded doubles team en route. They have been named to the Great Britain’s Davis Cup team.
The singles players that are in London are Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Dominic Thiem, Matteo Berrettini – in group Bjorn Borg. Rafael Nadal, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev, and Alexander Zverev are in group Andre Agassi.
Reigining singles champion, Alexander Zverev will be looking to defend his title and finish off his season on a high note, especially after a rocky season with some disappointing and surprising results.
Both Nadal and Djokovic will battle it out for the no.1 ranking, but the Serb is the favorite, after Nadal withdrew from his semi-final match in Paris last weekend. After doing an MRI, it was revealed that the Spaniard has an abdominal distension. Nadal has travelled to London and is scheduled to play his first match on Monday against Zverev.
According to the ATP Tour, the two favorites to win the title in London are Roger Federer, who has won the tournament six times and Novak Djokovic, a five-time champion. Both players have the best statistics when playing indoors.
The matches will start at 12 pm on Sunday, but the first singles match will be at 2pm and it will be Djokovic against newcomer Matteo Berrettini. The official ranking for 2019 will be updated on Monday, November 18.
Picture: si.robi (Creative Commons Licence)
